After the highly successful Game tour in 1980 Queen played five nights at the Budokan in Tokyo from February 12th to the 18th. The band attended the Japan premier of the film Flash Gordon on February 10th, two nights before the opening show, and played a unique medley of tunes from the film during the performances.

Need You Loving Rock is a complete document of the second Tokyo show utilizing the older audience recording. Three other incomplete tapes circulate for this date which surfaced subsequent to the Gypsy Eye release. The sound quality is extremely good bordering on excellent and, except for the audience members close to the mic during “Love Of My Life,” there is minimal crowd interference. There are tape flips between numbers but nothing is missing. It is one of the finest sounding audience recordings from this era.

The break benefited Queen greatly. When the band are uptight they normally deliver an exciting show but when they are loose they can create such tremendous excitement and charisma and the second Tokyo show must rank among the very best.

The opening moments onstage are occupied with the same songs from the Game tour with “Jailhouse Rock,” “We Will Rock You” and “Let Me Entertain You,” all excellent songs in building the excitement. “Play The Game” provides some respite although Freddie truly blows his lungs out during the piece.

The medley begins with “Mustapha” and as Freddie is trying to get the crowd to sing along he interrupts the second “Ibrahim,” saying “stay in fucking tune!!!” “Death On Two Legs” had been an important part of the medley but five years after being introduced to the stage after Queen had become international superstars wore out its welcome and it would be dropped after this year. “Killer Queen” is very aggressive tonight with Freddie growling out the words.

“Fat Bottomed Girls” is dropped this night in favor of “Need Your Loving Tonight.” There is some commotion at the front of the stage when Freddie introduces “Save Me.” He can be heard shouting “Get him off!” a couple times and Brian is a bit distracted at the piano. In the middle of the next song “Now I’m Here” Freddie tries very hard to get the audience to clap in time.

“Dragon Attack” makes an appearance before “Now I’m Here” comes back again, beginning very slow and deliberate before “down in the city just Hoople and me.” The following “Love Of My Life” is the only acoustic number played in the set. May introduces the song in Japanese and the crowd sing along.

“Keep Yourself Alive” begins another exciting interlude in the show. May plays unique, mind bending riffs in the breaks which seems to confuse the rest of the band. Taylor plays a short drum solo as May goes into his solo spot with tympani underlining the opening notes. The six minute guitar solo, which would normally segue into the final verse of “Brighton Rock” goes into the “Vultan” theme from Flash Gordon instead.

Begun by Taylor on the drums, Freddie plays the catchy melody on synthesizer. They sustain it for almost two minutes before segueing into the bombastic “Battle” theme, running into “Flash” and finally ending with “The Hero.” It is the first time this arrangement was played on stage and would remain for the three remaining Tokyo shows (Feb 16, 17, and 18).

There is a small mistake when Taylor leads them into “The Hero” but May plays the “Battle” theme again. Freddie can be heard saying, “when am I singing?” The other nights would be much more polished but it’s a shame they never attempted this medley after Japan. The energy continues with an improvisatory version of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and an impressive vocal performance in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Need You Loving Rock is one of the better Queen Gypsy Eye releases with a great sounding tape and a fascinating concert.